BCCI’s wings clipped

The Supreme Court has restricted the financial powers of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) and ordered the appointment of an independent auditor who will have full access to the records and accounts of the cricket body. The court has also barred funding by BCCI to the state associations until they submit affidavits accepting the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee, which was appointed by the court to suggest and implement administrative reforms in Indian cricket. These are significant decisions, but they do give BCCI’s officials some breathing space. Late last month, the Lodha Committee had demanded the removal of BCCI’s top brass, arguing that BCCI was placing “impediments” in the way of reforms and that it was not possible to bring in change as long as the present set of administrators was in charge. The Supreme Court has stopped short of taking the extreme step of removal of the top officials.

It seems the Supreme Court wants to give BCCI the maximum possible leeway and its officials as much time as it possibly can to embrace reform and change. It is up to the officials to now, finally, accept that reform is inevitable and that they should stop resisting it. Will they do so? It is very unlikely. Essentially, these officials — politicians and businessmen, mostly — are fighting for their survival and existence within BCCI. The Lodha Committee envisages a future in which BCCI and the state associations are run by professional managers with the help of former/current cricketers, not by politicians and businessmen. Sadly, BCCI’s politician/businessmen officials are unlikely to leave unless forced to.

This resistance to change is seen in the state associations too. Several former cricketers from Punjab have protested that the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) is not inducting former players into the PCA’s executive committee, as recommended by the Lodha Committee. They point out that only one former cricketer is on the PCA’s executive committee, while several top officials have held honorary positions in the PCA for decades. It is such officials, across the state associations and BCCI, who fear change and are thus fighting against reform. The Supreme Court will have to take this fight to its logical end.